Paradise Peak (New Americana 5)

“Bonus?” Trailer lowered, Red unhooked a pin on the coupler, then secured the coupler to the ball of the hitch.

Travis crouched at Red’s side, grabbed both safety chains, crossed them, then attached them to the hitch. “Hannah told me last night that she’d talk to you about throwing in a small bonus with my pay so I could buy work clothes.”

Red plugged the electrical cord into the truck’s port and straightened. “I’d have been happy to throw in a bonus, but this is the first I’m hearing of it. Hannah told me earlier this morning that you two were gonna shop around and that you’d be back later than you planned, but she didn’t mention anything about a bonus. Matter of fact, when I offered her a little extra cash, she turned me down. Said she had plenty for what you needed.”

Frowning, Travis stood and glanced toward the stable entrance. After retiring to his cabin last night, he’d taken a shower, had sat at the small wooden desk in front of the window, and had written until his eyes were as heavy as the guilt pressing on his heart. Then he’d crawled into bed and slept like the dead.

The glow of the rising sun spreading slowly over the mountain, brightening the dark interior of the cabin, had awakened him. He’d dressed quickly and walked down the trail and across the bridge to meet Hannah at the stable.

She’d been hard at work mucking the stables and had asked him to go to the lodge and tell Red she was ready for him to bring the tr

uck around to hook up the trailer. Only the top of her auburn head and the flash of her hand were visible as she’d raked and shoveled behind a stall door. Travis had hovered, wanting to offer his help, but she seemed to have a steady rhythm, and instead, he’d done as she’d asked, trekking up to the lodge, riding back in the truck with Red, and helping hook up the trailer for the trip into town.

Since stopping for new clothes was still on the agenda, Travis had assumed Hannah had already talked to Red about the bonus. But clearly, he’d been mistaken.

Hannah emerged from the stable’s entrance. She was dressed as she had been yesterday, in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. The long day spent working on the stable roof had given her fair skin a sun-kissed glow and those blue eyes and soft mouth were as pretty in the morning light as they had been last night in the lantern’s glow.

Face warming, Travis ducked his head and studied her beneath his lashes as she approached. Every few steps, she glanced up at the sky, her brow creasing.

“The trailer ready?” she asked when she reached the truck.

“What’s this about asking me for a bonus?” Red leaned against the truck, one hand propped on the roof’s edge as he smiled at Hannah. “Travis must’ve done pretty good work if you’re keen on upping his pay already.”

Travis held up a hand. “Hannah did most of the work. I only—”

“Pulled your weight and then some.” Hannah’s lips curved as she stopped beside Travis and examined the trailer’s hitch. “Safety chains on tight?”

“Of course they are.” Red nudged Travis with an elbow. “I tell you what—sun’s barely up and she’s already questioning our competence.” He cupped a hand around his mouth and whispered to Travis, “Don’t worry, she might act like a tough case, but she just likes to give me a hard time.” He lowered his hand and smiled at Hannah. “Go on, give ’em a yank if you’re that worried.”

Hannah grinned, squatted beside the hitch, and reached for one of the chains. Her shirtsleeve rose with her movements, baring her right wrist. Purple blotches marred her skin in a bruise that wrapped around her entire wrist.

Travis hissed in a breath. “Hannah—”

“What happened to your wrist?” Red shoved off the truck and squatted by Hannah’s side. He reached for her wrist, holding it gingerly, and eased the cuff of her shirt up further.

Hannah tugged it back. “It’s nothing.”

“That’s not nothing,” Red bit out. He stood, his face paling and mouth trembling. “Those bruises were made by a hand. You think I don’t recognize something like that by now? Bryan step foot on this land? ’Cuz I swear, if that bastard even thinks—”

“No.” Hannah shoved herself to her feet. Red blotches broke out on her neck and spread to her face. “I told you it’s nothing and I’d rather not have this conversation right now.”

“Well, we’re damn well having it. You don’t show up with something like that on you and expect me not to—”

“It was me.” Travis stepped forward. “I did it.”

Man, the last thing he wanted was to be the cause of an argument between Red and Hannah, though the confession made Travis feel everything but better. Whether he’d saved Hannah from a broken bone or not, he was the cause of those bruises, and the sight of them sent a wave of nausea through him.

Red looked fit to kill.

“I’m sorry.” Travis took another step toward Hannah, but the intense glower on Red’s face had his feet moving back again. “I didn’t m—”

“I fell off the stable roof yesterday,” Hannah said, squeezing Red’s arm. “Just like you’ve been hassling me about for the past year. Travis was watching out for me. He caught me and hauled me back up. He has nothing to apologize for because if it hadn’t been for him, I’d have broken a bone or two and you would’ve had to go to the trouble of walking out here and yelling ‘you told me so.’” She sighed, frowning as Red continued to stare at Travis. “That’s the whole humiliating story—top to bottom. You satisfied now?”

Red’s eyes narrowed first on Travis’s hands, then his face. “Is that the story? You watched out for her? Hauled her back up?”

Travis stiffened, his body preparing to receive a blow—possibly several. People weren’t all that prone to believe him, whether his word was backed by someone else or not, and he’d never raise a hand to Red, no matter the circumstances. “Yeah.” Voice weak, he cleared his throat and tried again. “That’s how it happened.”

Red’s scowl dissolved and his expression lit up with a wide grin. “Well, hell. You not only earned that bonus fair and square, I’m indebted to you.”